Rendered wall...hidden problems?

DAB1209

Our bid got accepted on house and have noticed that the gable wall is rendered.Its an end terrace house and is only rendered on side wall not front or back.Its quite ugly looking rather like grey plaster.Main question is why its rendered..im thinking damp or insulation?

Will we be informed why or should we be asking?

princessamy86

I would definitely be asking! You can ask your surveyor to really check it out, s/he should be able to tell you if it could be hiding anything nasty anyway. I don't think you would be informed, however might be worth putting the question to the vendor? Just ask when they did it and why?

TJ27

Is it an exposed West facing wall? If so then it might catch the weather and driving rain might make the wall damp. The rendering could be an attempt to rectify this.

Rendering alone will do nothing in terms of insulation.

poppysarah

You need to tap it to see if it's hollow and if it is that means it's got a problem.
I think that's the way - it's def something you'd want to know why and whether it worked! And whether it's sound!

Bear in mind replacing windows on a rendered wall is a PITA as it cracks and has to be redone.

angelavdavis

It might have been rendered because its cheaper than getting the bricks repointed? A lot of houses near me are rendered because the bricks have gone chalky due to the sea air.

Have you checked the inside of this wall for damp? Might be worth doing as sometimes (not always), render can be applied over the damp proof course - causing potential issues. It is worth therefore checking the walls on that side in case.

angelavdavis

Good idea getting advice. Rendering applied correctly isn't a problem in itself.

Is it possible the house could have originally have been mid-terrace, so as a result, when the rest of the terrace was taken down, they rendered the end in order to protect the house?

Doozergirl

I agree that it could be to protect a sea facing wall where they've rendered rather than repointed and risk having to do it again in the nearish future. Or that it was originally attached to another house and they've tidied it up.

It could be to cover up a problem as I've seen that too just done to a house near to one that I own. It had serious structural issues where part of the wall had already been rebuilt but was falling out because they hadn't even tied it in. It was bought by a 'developer' about 18 months ago and they've rendered it to cover that area. It's that bad that it's stressing already.

Tapping the render to find it hollow would mean that part has blown. I have no idea what else that would tell you other than that and blown render isn't exactly a serious problem in itself.

hethmar

You see this in a lot of old end of terrace houses. In this area, old cottages often have what looks like tar on the end walls :eek: And yes, its normally damp penetration but if the rendering has been done well, it shouldnt be a problem.